Ready to Order
by Sorde
Summary: "You know what, Luke? I think I'm finally ready to order." Luke x Lorelai, takes place sixteen days after the series finale. JavaJunkie


**Author's note: **This is just a little blurb/oneshot I wrote, because I'm rewatching the series and I've already reached Season Six... possibly the most depressing. This takes place after the series finale, and, though it's been done to death, I hope you like it.

* * *

For the first time in sixteen days, since Rory's departure, she enters the diner. Her hand fits the knob almost perfectly, naturally, as she opens the door. It's comfortable, and she suddenly realizes that her decision is for the better. As her shoes squeak across the slightly-dirty floor, there's an intake of breath that makes the room a little suffocating. Or was that her necklace? What's this pressure? Her heart is beating unevenly, unfairly. Kirk sits in what is now 'his' stool, next to the cash register, and, for the first time since his announcement, this makes her jealous. She misses that stool... the way it had molded perfectly in the nine, almost ten, years she'd used it, how it gave her a good view of Luke.

Finally, he notices her, and his eyebrows go up. The blue baseball cap on his head is like the doorknob and the stool; it fits his head perfectly. She imagines that it's comfortable, and yet the one time he let her wear it, she found it horrendously uncomfortable. Was that because it was molded to his head? Everything about the diner seemed to fit perfectly to whom it was intended for. The doorknob, the stool, the baseball cap... she can even remember, distantly, Luke's hand fitting hers properly. She misses that.

"Coffee?" He stuck out the half-open pot in her direction, setting a mug down as he went. She smiled in what she hoped was an endearing way, but ended up looking a little crazier as she blew a strand of hair out of her way. He filled the mug half way, until he saw her scowl and continues pouring, right up to the brim. Her hands wrapped around the mug, and it was like riding a bicycle... you never forgot how to drink coffee from Luke's Diner. Small sips, smiling occasionally, while averting any comments made by Luke during the process.

"Thanks," she says when she finishes, and he nods. She hates the barrier between them, the - what was it called? Sexual tension? - that made them unable to have a normal conversation without her missing him. "How's... April?" The name makes Luke's face relax, and she likes that. He now looks like Luke Danes, the first man she really loved and the man who was supposed to be with her forever. However, it's also a name that strikes a dagger into Lorelai's heart; she knows that April - or, rather, the idea of April - that killed their relationship, that led it into a downward spiral resulting in her sleeping with Chris. She liked the kid, didn't blame her for the problems... but hated Luke's reaction. No, that was wrong, too. She liked that he went in to parenthood with enthusiasm. What she _didn't _like was him excluding her from the relationship with the kid.

"Good... good. Really good. I've been meaning to ask you if I can reserve a couple of rooms at the Dragonfly when she comes up... she wants to check it out." She smiles a third time and nods, unsure of a proper answer that won't come off accusingly. He clearly does love April.

"Yeah, no problem. We have a pretty slow summer so far, and it's already June." June 3rd tomorrow, actually. The irony of the situation causes her to look away from his concentrating face, and she kind of hates herself for it. A year ago tomorrow, they should have been getting married. Everything would have been different then; she'd be happy, a part of both Luke and April's life. Everything would have been fine.

"You want something other then coffee?" He gestures to her half-empty cup, the other half magically disappeared. Had she had a sip so far? Was it habit to drink coffee for her now, when she was nervous?

"You know what, Luke? I think I'm finally ready to order." The necklace, the one he gave her, is no longer suffocating. He looks up and smiles, just once.

"Saturday? Seven?"

"Sure. See? I didn't even have to look at the menu." She smiles back.

"You already knew what you were getting." Somehow, this is the best part of them; how comfortable they were. How perfectly they fit together. The stool, baseball cap, and doorknob had nothing on the infamous Luke and Lorelai relationship, and that idea could not have made her happier. "Hey, Lorelai?" Halfway to the door, she turns around in answer. "I'm in. I'm all in."


End file.
